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Homeschool News .... Homeschool Girl Missing !

It's been just over three months since Rowan County teenager Erica Parsons was reported missing.

State records show the teen was being homeschooled by her adoptive mother when she disappeared nearly two years ago.

There is new support among state legislators to tighten homeschooling laws.

The face that has haunted investigators, the mystery is what happened to Erica Parsons?

"Everyone that has heard about it has had their heart sink a little bit," said Democratic State Sen. Gene McLaurin.

The ranch house where Erica was last seen sits at the north end of state -- McLaurin's district.

He's followed the hunt for answers in her case, but has new questions about why it took nearly two years for anyone to report her missing.

"There has not been any real accountability for what type of education she has received," McLaurin said.

Erica's biological mother has claimed if Erica had been enrolled in public school, someone would have noticed her disappearance.

Last month, at a vigil for Erica, Carolyn Parsons called for a new law, in her daughter's name, that would tighten homeschooling restrictions in North Carolina

"That's why it's so hard to track her until this is done," she said at the time..

Channel 9 obtained records from the state department of nonpublic education, that show Casey Parsons, Erica's adoptive mother, filed a notice of intent to found the Parsons' Christian School in 2005 as a religious school for her children.

Per state laws, all Casey Parsons was required to do was submit attendance and immunization records and administer a standardized test once a year. There is no standard curriculum and state education officials said they believe that is sufficient oversight

"I would say we are a moderate state when it comes to monitoring, certainly there are some out there that have no connection with them at all," said David Mills, director with the N.C. Department of Nonpublic Education.

Mills said his department can also make an unannounced inspection at any of the state's estimated 52,000 homeschools at any time.

Mills admits those visits are rare and information obtained from state records shows the state never checked on Casey or Erica Parsons, and Mills admits there simply aren't enough resources to do it.

"Anyone can fabricate documents," said Kevin McClain with North Carolinians for Home Education.

McClain said when kids slip through the cracks, it's not because of lax laws.

He said the majority of families who belong to his organization, North Carolinians for Home Education, are teaching bright minds with bright futures

"Who knows if going to school every day would have helped Erica," McClain said.

That is a question McLaurin and the education oversight committee are investigating.

Inside the state capitol, legislative aides are working on a report about other state's homeschooling and the Department of Nonpublic Education's policies and procedures.

It's all in hopes that lessons will be learned from the girl who remains a mystery

Is the focus of this investigation on homeschooling in the wrong place?

That is absolutely horrible, and reminds me of the girl I told Sonja about. When the principal/officers/etc. KNOW a family abuses a child AND someone else in the family wants that child why do they return them? I don't understand that!

Did she ever get to return to the aunt?

Quoting bluerooffarm:

When I was teaching in Virginia a girl went missing. The school called home after her second absence and was told she was sick. They gathered her work and sent it home after the first week and again at the end of the second week. At the end of the third week they called the parents again and told them that they needed to bring in a medical excuse by the next Monday or they would call the truancy officer. No note, so they called the truancy officer. She was backed up, so she got to them at the end of the Fourth week. She wanted to see the child, but the child was missing. Out went an Amber alert and all that. They found the girl a month later living at an aunt's house in New York and RETURNED HER. Turns out the girl had run away because of abuse. They the truancy officer and the school could not see all those red flags and returned her to a family that beat the living Hell out of her for running away in the first place. They were afraid of repercussions for her abuse so they did not file a missing person's report, then when given the child back they beat her for her actions. People can be crazy! And homeschooling, public schooling, private schooling, or any other means to an education you can think of can STILL have crazy people. So homeschooling in this case is just a red herring.

She waited out the three months left till she turned 18 and left. The parents actually had the nerve to report her missing that time. I guess they figured why not, they hadn't gotten in trouble before. That's when it finally all came out. She got custody of her little sister (12yo or so) and the parents were arrested for a whole slew of charges....endangerment, neglect, assault, it rocked the community. They had locked her up in a closet, starved her, put cigarets out on her back, and all kinds of unspeakable things.

She and the aunt had been working out plans to get the other daughter out. The older girl had told a pastor before about the abuse, but he just told the parents because he thought she was getting attention. Seriously, the parents did not seem crazy, the kids seemed shy, but not like they were abused. It just made me realise that there may be signs, but there can be so much hidden.

Quoting TidewaterClan:

That is absolutely horrible, and reminds me of the girl I told Sonja about. When the principal/officers/etc. KNOW a family abuses a child AND someone else in the family wants that child why do they return them? I don't understand that!

Did she ever get to return to the aunt?

Quoting bluerooffarm:

When I was teaching in Virginia a girl went missing. The school called home after her second absence and was told she was sick. They gathered her work and sent it home after the first week and again at the end of the second week. At the end of the third week they called the parents again and told them that they needed to bring in a medical excuse by the next Monday or they would call the truancy officer. No note, so they called the truancy officer. She was backed up, so she got to them at the end of the Fourth week. She wanted to see the child, but the child was missing. Out went an Amber alert and all that. They found the girl a month later living at an aunt's house in New York and RETURNED HER. Turns out the girl had run away because of abuse. They the truancy officer and the school could not see all those red flags and returned her to a family that beat the living Hell out of her for running away in the first place. They were afraid of repercussions for her abuse so they did not file a missing person's report, then when given the child back they beat her for her actions. People can be crazy! And homeschooling, public schooling, private schooling, or any other means to an education you can think of can STILL have crazy people. So homeschooling in this case is just a red herring.

Oh that's just sad. How horrible, especially to have the nerve & report her missing. It's a Shane the pastor didn't believe her or contact child services. If that happened in Girl Scouts I'd have been obligated to report it (at a minimum - I'd never assume a child was making up something like that). I'm glad she got custody of her little sister.

Quoting bluerooffarm:

She waited out the three months left till she turned 18 and left. The parents actually had the nerve to report her missing that time. I guess they figured why not, they hadn't gotten in trouble before. That's when it finally all came out. She got custody of her little sister (12yo or so) and the parents were arrested for a whole slew of charges....endangerment, neglect, assault, it rocked the community. They had locked her up in a closet, starved her, put cigarets out on her back, and all kinds of unspeakable things.

She and the aunt had been working out plans to get the other daughter out. The older girl had told a pastor before about the abuse, but he just told the parents because he thought she was getting attention. Seriously, the parents did not seem crazy, the kids seemed shy, but not like they were abused. It just made me realise that there may be signs, but there can be so much hidden.

Quoting TidewaterClan:

That is absolutely horrible, and reminds me of the girl I told Sonja about. When the principal/officers/etc. KNOW a family abuses a child AND someone else in the family wants that child why do they return them? I don't understand that!

Did she ever get to return to the aunt?

Quoting bluerooffarm:

When I was teaching in Virginia a girl went missing. The school called home after her second absence and was told she was sick. They gathered her work and sent it home after the first week and again at the end of the second week. At the end of the third week they called the parents again and told them that they needed to bring in a medical excuse by the next Monday or they would call the truancy officer. No note, so they called the truancy officer. She was backed up, so she got to them at the end of the Fourth week. She wanted to see the child, but the child was missing. Out went an Amber alert and all that. They found the girl a month later living at an aunt's house in New York and RETURNED HER. Turns out the girl had run away because of abuse. They the truancy officer and the school could not see all those red flags and returned her to a family that beat the living Hell out of her for running away in the first place. They were afraid of repercussions for her abuse so they did not file a missing person's report, then when given the child back they beat her for her actions. People can be crazy! And homeschooling, public schooling, private schooling, or any other means to an education you can think of can STILL have crazy people. So homeschooling in this case is just a red herring.

At school we would have been obligated to report it too. I know that I would have (I had that sad duty a couple times), but I also know that some of my fellow teachers would not have. I have no idea if pastors are supposed to report or not. It makes me sad that she wasn't believed, I know how that screwed me up for a very long time.

Quoting TidewaterClan: Oh that's just sad. How horrible, especially to have the nerve & report her missing. It's a Shane the pastor didn't believe her or contact child services. If that happened in Girl Scouts I'd have been obligated to report it (at a minimum - I'd never assume a child was making up something like that). I'm glad she got custody of her little sister.

Quoting bluerooffarm:

She waited out the three months left till she turned 18 and left. The parents actually had the nerve to report her missing that time. I guess they figured why not, they hadn't gotten in trouble before. That's when it finally all came out. She got custody of her little sister (12yo or so) and the parents were arrested for a whole slew of charges....endangerment, neglect, assault, it rocked the community. They had locked her up in a closet, starved her, put cigarets out on her back, and all kinds of unspeakable things.

She and the aunt had been working out plans to get the other daughter out. The older girl had told a pastor before about the abuse, but he just told the parents because he thought she was getting attention. Seriously, the parents did not seem crazy, the kids seemed shy, but not like they were abused. It just made me realise that there may be signs, but there can be so much hidden.

Quoting TidewaterClan:

That is absolutely horrible, and reminds me of the girl I told Sonja about. When the principal/officers/etc. KNOW a family abuses a child AND someone else in the family wants that child why do they return them? I don't understand that!

Did she ever get to return to the aunt?

Quoting bluerooffarm:

When I was teaching in Virginia a girl went missing. The school called home after her second absence and was told she was sick. They gathered her work and sent it home after the first week and again at the end of the second week. At the end of the third week they called the parents again and told them that they needed to bring in a medical excuse by the next Monday or they would call the truancy officer. No note, so they called the truancy officer. She was backed up, so she got to them at the end of the Fourth week. She wanted to see the child, but the child was missing. Out went an Amber alert and all that. They found the girl a month later living at an aunt's house in New York and RETURNED HER. Turns out the girl had run away because of abuse. They the truancy officer and the school could not see all those red flags and returned her to a family that beat the living Hell out of her for running away in the first place. They were afraid of repercussions for her abuse so they did not file a missing person's report, then when given the child back they beat her for her actions. People can be crazy! And homeschooling, public schooling, private schooling, or any other means to an education you can think of can STILL have crazy people. So homeschooling in this case is just a red herring.

I'm so sorry that happened to you. That's a shame you had to report people, but wonderful that you helped protect the children like that.

Once in GS I had to call a mom and tell her that her then 10 year old daughter was getting text messages from a 17 year old boy. Good times. :|

Quoting bluerooffarm:

At school we would have been obligated to report it too. I know that I would have (I had that sad duty a couple times), but I also know that some of my fellow teachers would not have. I have no idea if pastors are supposed to report or not. It makes me sad that she wasn't believed, I know how that screwed me up for a very long time.

Quoting TidewaterClan: Oh that's just sad. How horrible, especially to have the nerve & report her missing. It's a Shane the pastor didn't believe her or contact child services. If that happened in Girl Scouts I'd have been obligated to report it (at a minimum - I'd never assume a child was making up something like that). I'm glad she got custody of her little sister.

Quoting bluerooffarm:

She waited out the three months left till she turned 18 and left. The parents actually had the nerve to report her missing that time. I guess they figured why not, they hadn't gotten in trouble before. That's when it finally all came out. She got custody of her little sister (12yo or so) and the parents were arrested for a whole slew of charges....endangerment, neglect, assault, it rocked the community. They had locked her up in a closet, starved her, put cigarets out on her back, and all kinds of unspeakable things.

She and the aunt had been working out plans to get the other daughter out. The older girl had told a pastor before about the abuse, but he just told the parents because he thought she was getting attention. Seriously, the parents did not seem crazy, the kids seemed shy, but not like they were abused. It just made me realise that there may be signs, but there can be so much hidden.

Quoting TidewaterClan:

That is absolutely horrible, and reminds me of the girl I told Sonja about. When the principal/officers/etc. KNOW a family abuses a child AND someone else in the family wants that child why do they return them? I don't understand that!

Did she ever get to return to the aunt?

Quoting bluerooffarm:

When I was teaching in Virginia a girl went missing. The school called home after her second absence and was told she was sick. They gathered her work and sent it home after the first week and again at the end of the second week. At the end of the third week they called the parents again and told them that they needed to bring in a medical excuse by the next Monday or they would call the truancy officer. No note, so they called the truancy officer. She was backed up, so she got to them at the end of the Fourth week. She wanted to see the child, but the child was missing. Out went an Amber alert and all that. They found the girl a month later living at an aunt's house in New York and RETURNED HER. Turns out the girl had run away because of abuse. They the truancy officer and the school could not see all those red flags and returned her to a family that beat the living Hell out of her for running away in the first place. They were afraid of repercussions for her abuse so they did not file a missing person's report, then when given the child back they beat her for her actions. People can be crazy! And homeschooling, public schooling, private schooling, or any other means to an education you can think of can STILL have crazy people. So homeschooling in this case is just a red herring.

Yeah, good times. I had to let people know their child was bulimic, huffing, joining a gang (different children, of course). Kids get into some ugly stuff!

Quoting TidewaterClan: I'm so sorry that happened to you. That's a shame you had to report people, but wonderful that you helped protect the children like that.

Once in GS I had to call a mom and tell her that her then 10 year old daughter was getting text messages from a 17 year old boy. Good times. :|

Quoting bluerooffarm:

At school we would have been obligated to report it too. I know that I would have (I had that sad duty a couple times), but I also know that some of my fellow teachers would not have. I have no idea if pastors are supposed to report or not. It makes me sad that she wasn't believed, I know how that screwed me up for a very long time.

Quoting TidewaterClan: Oh that's just sad. How horrible, especially to have the nerve & report her missing. It's a Shane the pastor didn't believe her or contact child services. If that happened in Girl Scouts I'd have been obligated to report it (at a minimum - I'd never assume a child was making up something like that). I'm glad she got custody of her little sister.

Quoting bluerooffarm:

She waited out the three months left till she turned 18 and left. The parents actually had the nerve to report her missing that time. I guess they figured why not, they hadn't gotten in trouble before. That's when it finally all came out. She got custody of her little sister (12yo or so) and the parents were arrested for a whole slew of charges....endangerment, neglect, assault, it rocked the community. They had locked her up in a closet, starved her, put cigarets out on her back, and all kinds of unspeakable things.

She and the aunt had been working out plans to get the other daughter out. The older girl had told a pastor before about the abuse, but he just told the parents because he thought she was getting attention. Seriously, the parents did not seem crazy, the kids seemed shy, but not like they were abused. It just made me realise that there may be signs, but there can be so much hidden.

Quoting TidewaterClan:

That is absolutely horrible, and reminds me of the girl I told Sonja about. When the principal/officers/etc. KNOW a family abuses a child AND someone else in the family wants that child why do they return them? I don't understand that!

Did she ever get to return to the aunt?

Quoting bluerooffarm:

When I was teaching in Virginia a girl went missing. The school called home after her second absence and was told she was sick. They gathered her work and sent it home after the first week and again at the end of the second week. At the end of the third week they called the parents again and told them that they needed to bring in a medical excuse by the next Monday or they would call the truancy officer. No note, so they called the truancy officer. She was backed up, so she got to them at the end of the Fourth week. She wanted to see the child, but the child was missing. Out went an Amber alert and all that. They found the girl a month later living at an aunt's house in New York and RETURNED HER. Turns out the girl had run away because of abuse. They the truancy officer and the school could not see all those red flags and returned her to a family that beat the living Hell out of her for running away in the first place. They were afraid of repercussions for her abuse so they did not file a missing person's report, then when given the child back they beat her for her actions. People can be crazy! And homeschooling, public schooling, private schooling, or any other means to an education you can think of can STILL have crazy people. So homeschooling in this case is just a red herring.

Yeah, good times. I had to let people know their child was bulimic, huffing, joining a gang (different children, of course). Kids get into some ugly stuff!

Quoting TidewaterClan: I'm so sorry that happened to you. That's a shame you had to report people, but wonderful that you helped protect the children like that.

Once in GS I had to call a mom and tell her that her then 10 year old daughter was getting text messages from a 17 year old boy. Good times. :|

Quoting bluerooffarm:

At school we would have been obligated to report it too. I know that I would have (I had that sad duty a couple times), but I also know that some of my fellow teachers would not have. I have no idea if pastors are supposed to report or not. It makes me sad that she wasn't believed, I know how that screwed me up for a very long time.

Quoting TidewaterClan: Oh that's just sad. How horrible, especially to have the nerve & report her missing. It's a Shane the pastor didn't believe her or contact child services. If that happened in Girl Scouts I'd have been obligated to report it (at a minimum - I'd never assume a child was making up something like that). I'm glad she got custody of her little sister.

Quoting bluerooffarm:

She waited out the three months left till she turned 18 and left. The parents actually had the nerve to report her missing that time. I guess they figured why not, they hadn't gotten in trouble before. That's when it finally all came out. She got custody of her little sister (12yo or so) and the parents were arrested for a whole slew of charges....endangerment, neglect, assault, it rocked the community. They had locked her up in a closet, starved her, put cigarets out on her back, and all kinds of unspeakable things.

She and the aunt had been working out plans to get the other daughter out. The older girl had told a pastor before about the abuse, but he just told the parents because he thought she was getting attention. Seriously, the parents did not seem crazy, the kids seemed shy, but not like they were abused. It just made me realise that there may be signs, but there can be so much hidden.

Quoting TidewaterClan:

That is absolutely horrible, and reminds me of the girl I told Sonja about. When the principal/officers/etc. KNOW a family abuses a child AND someone else in the family wants that child why do they return them? I don't understand that!

Did she ever get to return to the aunt?

Quoting bluerooffarm:

When I was teaching in Virginia a girl went missing. The school called home after her second absence and was told she was sick. They gathered her work and sent it home after the first week and again at the end of the second week. At the end of the third week they called the parents again and told them that they needed to bring in a medical excuse by the next Monday or they would call the truancy officer. No note, so they called the truancy officer. She was backed up, so she got to them at the end of the Fourth week. She wanted to see the child, but the child was missing. Out went an Amber alert and all that. They found the girl a month later living at an aunt's house in New York and RETURNED HER. Turns out the girl had run away because of abuse. They the truancy officer and the school could not see all those red flags and returned her to a family that beat the living Hell out of her for running away in the first place. They were afraid of repercussions for her abuse so they did not file a missing person's report, then when given the child back they beat her for her actions. People can be crazy! And homeschooling, public schooling, private schooling, or any other means to an education you can think of can STILL have crazy people. So homeschooling in this case is just a red herring.

Yeah, good times. I had to let people know their child was bulimic, huffing, joining a gang (different children, of course). Kids get into some ugly stuff!

Quoting TidewaterClan: I'm so sorry that happened to you. That's a shame you had to report people, but wonderful that you helped protect the children like that.

Once in GS I had to call a mom and tell her that her then 10 year old daughter was getting text messages from a 17 year old boy. Good times. :|

Quoting bluerooffarm:

At school we would have been obligated to report it too. I know that I would have (I had that sad duty a couple times), but I also know that some of my fellow teachers would not have. I have no idea if pastors are supposed to report or not. It makes me sad that she wasn't believed, I know how that screwed me up for a very long time.

Quoting TidewaterClan: Oh that's just sad. How horrible, especially to have the nerve & report her missing. It's a Shane the pastor didn't believe her or contact child services. If that happened in Girl Scouts I'd have been obligated to report it (at a minimum - I'd never assume a child was making up something like that). I'm glad she got custody of her little sister.

Quoting bluerooffarm:

She waited out the three months left till she turned 18 and left. The parents actually had the nerve to report her missing that time. I guess they figured why not, they hadn't gotten in trouble before. That's when it finally all came out. She got custody of her little sister (12yo or so) and the parents were arrested for a whole slew of charges....endangerment, neglect, assault, it rocked the community. They had locked her up in a closet, starved her, put cigarets out on her back, and all kinds of unspeakable things.

She and the aunt had been working out plans to get the other daughter out. The older girl had told a pastor before about the abuse, but he just told the parents because he thought she was getting attention. Seriously, the parents did not seem crazy, the kids seemed shy, but not like they were abused. It just made me realise that there may be signs, but there can be so much hidden.

Quoting TidewaterClan:

That is absolutely horrible, and reminds me of the girl I told Sonja about. When the principal/officers/etc. KNOW a family abuses a child AND someone else in the family wants that child why do they return them? I don't understand that!

Did she ever get to return to the aunt?

Quoting bluerooffarm:

When I was teaching in Virginia a girl went missing. The school called home after her second absence and was told she was sick. They gathered her work and sent it home after the first week and again at the end of the second week. At the end of the third week they called the parents again and told them that they needed to bring in a medical excuse by the next Monday or they would call the truancy officer. No note, so they called the truancy officer. She was backed up, so she got to them at the end of the Fourth week. She wanted to see the child, but the child was missing. Out went an Amber alert and all that. They found the girl a month later living at an aunt's house in New York and RETURNED HER. Turns out the girl had run away because of abuse. They the truancy officer and the school could not see all those red flags and returned her to a family that beat the living Hell out of her for running away in the first place. They were afraid of repercussions for her abuse so they did not file a missing person's report, then when given the child back they beat her for her actions. People can be crazy! And homeschooling, public schooling, private schooling, or any other means to an education you can think of can STILL have crazy people. So homeschooling in this case is just a red herring.

Yeah, good times. I had to let people know their child was bulimic, huffing, joining a gang (different children, of course). Kids get into some ugly stuff!

Quoting TidewaterClan: I'm so sorry that happened to you. That's a shame you had to report people, but wonderful that you helped protect the children like that.

Once in GS I had to call a mom and tell her that her then 10 year old daughter was getting text messages from a 17 year old boy. Good times. :|

Quoting bluerooffarm:

At school we would have been obligated to report it too. I know that I would have (I had that sad duty a couple times), but I also know that some of my fellow teachers would not have. I have no idea if pastors are supposed to report or not. It makes me sad that she wasn't believed, I know how that screwed me up for a very long time.

Quoting TidewaterClan: Oh that's just sad. How horrible, especially to have the nerve & report her missing. It's a Shane the pastor didn't believe her or contact child services. If that happened in Girl Scouts I'd have been obligated to report it (at a minimum - I'd never assume a child was making up something like that). I'm glad she got custody of her little sister.

Quoting bluerooffarm:

She waited out the three months left till she turned 18 and left. The parents actually had the nerve to report her missing that time. I guess they figured why not, they hadn't gotten in trouble before. That's when it finally all came out. She got custody of her little sister (12yo or so) and the parents were arrested for a whole slew of charges....endangerment, neglect, assault, it rocked the community. They had locked her up in a closet, starved her, put cigarets out on her back, and all kinds of unspeakable things.

She and the aunt had been working out plans to get the other daughter out. The older girl had told a pastor before about the abuse, but he just told the parents because he thought she was getting attention. Seriously, the parents did not seem crazy, the kids seemed shy, but not like they were abused. It just made me realise that there may be signs, but there can be so much hidden.

Quoting TidewaterClan:

That is absolutely horrible, and reminds me of the girl I told Sonja about. When the principal/officers/etc. KNOW a family abuses a child AND someone else in the family wants that child why do they return them? I don't understand that!

Did she ever get to return to the aunt?

Quoting bluerooffarm:

When I was teaching in Virginia a girl went missing. The school called home after her second absence and was told she was sick. They gathered her work and sent it home after the first week and again at the end of the second week. At the end of the third week they called the parents again and told them that they needed to bring in a medical excuse by the next Monday or they would call the truancy officer. No note, so they called the truancy officer. She was backed up, so she got to them at the end of the Fourth week. She wanted to see the child, but the child was missing. Out went an Amber alert and all that. They found the girl a month later living at an aunt's house in New York and RETURNED HER. Turns out the girl had run away because of abuse. They the truancy officer and the school could not see all those red flags and returned her to a family that beat the living Hell out of her for running away in the first place. They were afraid of repercussions for her abuse so they did not file a missing person's report, then when given the child back they beat her for her actions. People can be crazy! And homeschooling, public schooling, private schooling, or any other means to an education you can think of can STILL have crazy people. So homeschooling in this case is just a red herring.

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